Election Campaigns
- Dobson warns of fallout if Democrats take Congress | James Dobson calls on values voters to vote Republican (The Denver Post)
- Is it a sin not to vote? | Chuck Colson writes on David Kuo’s response to disillusionment (Townhall.com)
- Evangelicals are cool on GOP | Many say the party’s accomplishments have been disappointing, but they will vote Republican anyway (The News & Observer)
- Democrats seek to close the ‘God Gap’ | The 2004 election gave the Democrats a serious wake-up call (BBC News)
- On the religious right, an alliance torn asunder | Dick Armey and James Dobson row (The Washington Post)
- War tests voter loyalty in Bible Belt | Social issues secondary for some conservatives (The Boston Globe)
Crime and Lawsuits
- The United Church of Canada issues a consumer alert | A fraud scheme that suggests The United Church of Canada will sponsor the purchase of the vehicle as a thank-you gift for someone who has faithfully served the church for many years (Canada Newswire)
- Documents shed more light on killer | Police continue to search for motives in the case of a man who walked up to the homes of two convicted sex offenders and shot them to death Easter morning (Associated Press)
- Lawsuits tackle religion in U.S. military | Two lawsuits have been filed in Washington against the U.S. military with differing claims on how the service treats evangelical Christians (United Press International)
- Italy photographer freed in Afghanistan | The kidnappers had demanded that Italy hand over an Afghan who converted to Christianity from Islam in return for Torsello’s release. (Reuters)
- Trial over Indonesian beheadings to start next week | Three Indonesian men will go on trial next week over the beheading of three teenage Christian girls in Central Sulawesi province last year (Reuters)
- Malaysia probes Muslim raid on retired American couple | Malaysia’s tourism authorities will open a probe into the controversial raid of a retired Christian American couple by an Islamic vigilante squad (Reuters)
Church and State (Non-US)
- Evangelicals flex growing clout in Nicaragua’s election | When Nicaragua passed one of the strictest abortion laws in the hemisphere last week, critics charged the Catholic Church with flexing political muscle ahead of next week’s presidential election (Christian Science Monitor)
- Blair downplays creationism fears | The prime minister has rejected worries about current teaching of creationism—saying it would only be a concern if it became the “mainstream” of education (BBC News)
Church Life
- AP Interview: First female leader of Episcopalians a risk-taker | Nevada Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori talks about her election to lead the Episcopal Church (Rachel Zoll, Associated Press)
- Uganda: Marching for abstinence | Thousands of Ugandans marched through Kampala recently to promote the message that ‘Abstinence Pride’ is central to the fight against HIV/AIDS (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks)
- Christians’ wartime donations of $20m went largely unheralded | Evangelical Christians dug deep into their pockets to provide humanitarian relief to Israel during the war in Lebanon this summer (Haaretz.com)
- Bethlehem Christians flee tensions | The little town of Bethlehem is perhaps more associated with Christianity than any other place in the world. (BBC News)
- Church finds ‘purpose’ in Rwanda | Rwandan churches are finding inspiration in Rick Warren’s PEACE plan (The Washington Times)
- United against climate change | The churches and church-based organisations of Africa have jointly urged the international community to focus on the effects of climate change in Africa ahead of next week’s UN Convention on Climate Change in Nairobi. (Alertnet)
- Archbishop of Canterbury to visit Pope this month | Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the world’s Anglicans, will make his first official visit to Pope Benedict on November 23 at the Vatican (Reuters)
Entertainment
- Christian references infuse music, but … | Musicians who are Christian struggle with their bands’ public identities (The Denver Post)
- Movie review: ‘The Great Warming’ | With due respect to narrators Alanis Morissette and Keanu Reeves, the real star of this environmental documentary is the Rev. Richard Cizik of the National Assn. of Evangelicals (The Los Angeles Times)
- Explaining evangelicals | Author aims to go beyond stereotypes and politics (The News & Observer)
Other stories of interest
- Faking it as a priest in Japan | With a rise in the popularity of Christian-style weddings in Japan, some Westerners are finding they can make a lucrative living by acting as priests. But it does not please everyone, particularly genuine priest (BBC News)
- Letters to God end up in ocean, unread | About 300 letters to God washed up today, unopened. (Associated Press)
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